


Cardboard Cutout

by mousecat, notallballs (notallbees)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Awkward Flirting, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2017, First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-07 21:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11067510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousecat/pseuds/mousecat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/notallbees/pseuds/notallballs
Summary: "So, yeah," he said, turning back to Kenma with a sly look. "I'm Kuroo. Kuroo Tetsurou."Kenma raised an eyebrow at him. "I know."Kuroo's expression brightened. "Oh yeah?""There's a lifesize cutout right behind you.""Oh," Kuroo muttered, his face falling as he glanced over his shoulder again. "So there is."Kuroo is in a band. Kenma is less than impressed.





	Cardboard Cutout

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hibari1_san](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hibari1_san/gifts).



> [Fill for Team Bokuroo on SASO](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/21522.html?thread=10100754#cmt10100754)

The signing had ended over an hour ago, and Kenma was relieved that it was almost time to close. He hated signings, but he generally agreed to work them anyway. Tendou and Kai took charge of organising everything, and all Kenma had to do was keep the store running in the background.

The band had finished their set and most of the crowds were gone, so all Kenma had left to do was restock the shelves and put the store back in order. He was doing his best, only the singer with the stupid haircut kept _watching_ him. Eventually he wandered closer while Kenma was sorting through a pile of inventory, and when Kenma made the mistake of looking up, he grinned and gave a little wave.

"Can I help you with something?" Kenma asked in the cold, flat voice that Kai had begged him to stop using with customers. The man looked surprised, and pointed a finger at himself as if to say, _me_? Kenma sighed and added, "You seem lost."

The man's dark eyebrows raised. "Lost?" He started to laugh. "Yeah, maybe. In that case, could you give me some directions?"

Kenma shrugged. "I can try."

"Yeah, so uh, is there a nice place to hangout somewhere nearby? Any place you'd recommend?"

"Depends what you want, I guess."

"What if I said there's a cute record store clerk I want to invite out for a drink?"

"I'm sure you'll sweep her off her feet."

The guy leaned over and propped his elbows on the counter. He was tall, so he had to lean over quite far, and he obviously realised how silly it looked but he didn't immediately straighten up again. Instead, he propped his chin in his hands and smiled up at Kenma. Kenma couldn't decide if he felt a grudging admiration for the guy for following through, or if he just wanted to push him over. 

"Can I ask your name?" 

Kenma glanced up from the list he was checking off and gave him a flat look. "Kozume."

The guy grinned at him. "Kozume…?"

"Kenma."

"Oi, Kuroo!" Tendou yelled from the other side of the store. "Quit harassing my staff!"

Kuroo looked over his shoulder and gave Tendou a sarcastic wave, which earned him minor points. 

"So, yeah," he said, turning back to Kenma with a sly look. "I'm Kuroo. Kuroo Tetsurou."

Kenma raised an eyebrow at him. "I know."

Kuroo's expression brightened. "Oh yeah?"

"There's a lifesize cutout right behind you."

"Oh," Kuroo muttered, his face falling as he glanced over his shoulder again. "So there is."

"It has better hair than you," Kenma added, surprising himself with the hint of savage glee in his voice. 

"Ouch," Kuroo said, but he was grinning. "Nice to meet you too, Kozume."

Kenma wrinkled his nose. "Kenma is fine." He turned away to grab the box of vinyls and hefted it into his arms. Stepping around the counter, he lifted the box and shoved it at Kuroo. "Here, hold this."

Kuroo took it without question, and Kenma allowed himself a brief glance at the way Kuroo's biceps bulged through the clingy fabric of his long sleeved shirt. "You know," Kuroo said, looking at the box and then up at Kenma. "I came over here to pick up a guy, not a box."

Groaning, Kenma reached over to grab the stocklist and a price gun. "There's more chance of me going home with that cutout."

"So that means there's _some_ chance of you going home with me?" Kuroo asked with an irritating grin.

Kenma snorted. "You're pretty full of yourself for a guy whose biggest hit uses Schrodinger's Cat as a metaphor for blue balls."

Kenma strode off across the store, his cheeks already burning at his own audacity. This was the way he talked around Taketora, or Shouyou, not complete strangers. But where usually new people made him want to keep his distance, there was something about Kuroo that made Kenma want to get close enough to bite him.

"In my defence," Kuroo drawled, easily keeping pace with him with his long stride, "Bokuto wrote that one, I just sang it."

"It isn't Bokuto's voice that haunts me though, is it?" Kenma said, giving him a reproving look. He didn't offer to take the box from Kuroo, or suggest that he set it down. He checked the list, then started pulling records out and slapping prices on them.

Kuroo watched him steadily, with that suspect little half-smile that Kenma didn't hate as much as he wanted to. It was a lot less annoying in person than it was in photographs. "So," he said in a conversational tone. "You think about my voice a lot?"

Kenma shrugged and turned to slip the vinyls into place on the shelf. "Only when I can't turn the volume down."

Before he turned back around, Kuroo moved closer, bending forward to ask in a low voice, "Would it help if I talk more quietly?"

His arm brushed Kenma's shoulder, and Kenma could feel Kuroo's breath on the side of his neck. It made him shiver. "Still too loud," he said, amazed that he found his voice at all. 

Kuroo laughed softly and lowered his mouth to Kenma's ear. "How's this?"

Kenma swallowed. "Too loud," he said, forcing his voice to stay steady.

"Are you this mean to everyone?" Kuroo asked, moving back a little way. "Or am I just lucky?"

"If you don't like it," Kenma said lightly, turning to take more vinyls from the box, "you don't have to follow me around."

Kuroo actually looked a little chastened at that. "Ah, sorry," he said, glancing across the store. 

Following his gaze, Kenma saw Tendou and Kai standing chatting with the other band members. A couple of them looked their way and Kenma averted his eyes quickly, blushing. "You don't need to try so hard," he said quietly.

"Hm?"

"You know," Kenma said, looking up at him briefly and away again. "All that 'you think about my voice' bullshit." 

"Yeah," Kuroo said, wincing. He let out a little self-conscious laugh, shifting the box in his arms. "I know, I suck at flirting. Don't tell my fanclub."

Kenma rolled his eyes. "Do you ever stop showing off?"

Kuroo groaned. "Sorry. There's a reason they usually make me keep my mouth shut in interviews."

"Wise decision," Kenma said, glancing up at him again. "So was there a point to the flirting, or do you make a habit of harassing stock boys?"

Laughing again, Kuroo reached up and ruffled his fingers through his messy hair. "I really did just want to hang out. Maybe I could buy you dinner if we don't hate each other."

Kenma made a soft, considering noise, as though he hadn't already made up his mind. "Can I text Shouyou to join us when his shift ends?"

"Shouyou?" Kuroo said, looking surprised. "Oh, shit. Do you have a boyfriend?"

For about half a second, Kenma considered torturing him, but then he shook his head. "My housemate. He's the reason I'm subjected to your shitty lyrics all the time. He couldn't make it to the signing."

"Oh! Yeah, of course, invite him along, I'd like to meet him." Kuroo winked. "I've got a hundred questions to ask him about his cute housemate."

"Good luck," Kenma said, rolling his eyes again. "He's just going to ask you about every song title from _Their Stares, They're There on the Stairs_. Did anyone ever tell you your early titles were dumb? Is that why you stopped doing that?"

"Uh, yeah, something like that."

"I get off in half an hour," Kenma said, reaching out to take the box from him. "Shouyou won't be free until around nine, so it'll just be us for a while anyway. That sound okay?"

Kuroo grinned at him, and Kenma tried to pretend it didn't make his stomach do somersaults. "I can't wait," Kuroo said, with a smile that his photos _definitely_ didn't do justice to. 

"I have to unpack boxes in the back now."

"Right!" Kuroo said, taking a step back. "Well, yeah. I'll...see you in half an hour." He pointed fingerguns at Kenma as he walked away.

Kenma groaned and turned his back on Kuroo. Across the store came a chorus of muffled laughter. Kenma was never, ever going to live this down. 

He figured it might be worth it anyway.

—

Hinata couldn't make it to the restaurant in the end, but the look on his face the following morning, when Kuroo stepped out of Kenma's room wearing only his boxers, was worth enduring a thousand fingerguns.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://notallballs.tumblr.com/) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/notallbees)


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